The Marshall Liberal Government is looking to extend its Home Battery Scheme (HBS) subsidy of up to $6000 and low interest loans to rental properties, property developers and aged care facilities to spread the benefits of cheaper electricity to more South Australians.
"The HBS has delivered significant reductions in electricity bills for participating home owners since the subsidy was first announced 10 months ago. We want to extend the benefits to even more South Australians," said Minister for Energy Dan van Holst Pellekaan.
"We've had feedback from the community that those who are renting and in apartments want to benefit from new technologies such as batteries.
Of the 2,300 subsidies that have been approved under the scheme, 11 have been for batteries for properties occupied by renters. This shows that there's more work to do to make it easier for landlords and tenants to participate.
It's important that we work through the regulatory and other barriers to uptake - that's why I've tasked my Department with progressively opening up the scheme to more customers in the future."
"The first priority will be to open up the program to the common area of apartment blocks, so that those in apartments can start benefiting from bill savings and supporting the grid."
"Before the election I said I wanted to try to find a way to let landlords and tenants benefit from solar and batteries - but there's complicated national regulations and barriers which we need to work through.
"We're also looking at people who don't have an individual electricity meter but use power, such as in some retirement villages or supported accommodation, and how those sites can participate.
"There is $200 million of government money backing the HBS and I want to make sure as many South Australians as possible are assisted to tap into the enormous economic and environmental benefits home batteries bring.
"Batteries capacity to store electricity generated by solar panels during the day and power a home throughout the night has seen some HBS participants eliminate their summer electricity bills entirely.
"With 25 per cent of South Australians renting, we know there are many more people who could be benefiting from the energy savings delivered by battery technology.
"Data shows that almost 70 per cent of customers who have purchased a battery through the scheme had solar panels before applying for the subsidy.
"The $200 million Home Battery Scheme is designed to reduce electricity prices for all South Australians by reducing demand on the network during the afternoon peak.
"The AEMC adopted the same premise with this week's proposed rule change enabling big commercial and industrial users to be paid for reducing their electricity consumption when the system faces shortages."
Australian lending company RateSetter administers the subsidy and finance provided by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
More information on the Home Battery Scheme is available at www.homebatteryscheme.sa.gov.au
To date under the HBS more than 1,500 batteries have been installed and another 800 are awaiting installation.
